The 100 Prompt Challenge: Neville Longbottom Style
by Elegancexx
Summary: A 100 chapter Fic, based on the 100 prompts by xXKissingSinXx in the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges featuring Neville Longbottom. Ranges including Humor, Romance, Tragedy, Hurt/Comfort, etc. All books compliant. Neville/Hannah. Rating to be safe.
1. Prompt One: Haunted

_Author's Note__: This will be a 100 chapter Fic, all based on the 100 prompts by xXKissingSinXx in the Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges. Each one will feature Neville Longbottom throughout the Harry Potter series, although most will take place during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They are either book or movie compliant, but either way, are strictly cannon. These go in no particular order._

**Prompt 1: Haunted**

It felt as though every second of Neville Longbottom's life had dwindled down to this moment. Days he had spent preparing the D.A. for battle, those blessed days when every shining face of their numbers was still alive, when he, Luna, and Ginny had been so naively unaware of just how horrendously the night would play out—those days were fading into forgotten yesterdays in a matter of seconds.

Neville leaned out over the sixth floor balcony, hot, bitter tears falling down his cheeks. Too many had died tonight. At his feet, a pool of blood and a broken body was all that remained of Lavender Brown.

_Lavender…_

That look upon her face, so young, so brave… it had died on her shattered body.

And down on the grounds, so many other bodies were dead, so many that had been alive only earlier that evening, welcoming Harry back into the castle, cheering with hope. But Neville sobbed as he realized one last thing about those bodies…

_Colin…_

_Fred…_

_Lupin…_

_Tonks…_

_The Fifty score more who's numbers seemed endless…_

…They had died to save him. And his future wife. And his children. And he could never, never repay them.

If truth be told, sometimes the heartbeat of the silence still echoes in his heart, even now it's nineteen years passed. Why, oh why, do all beautiful things seem to break? Lives, soldiers, his friends…When he looks in the mirror, everything seems alright. But as he looks closer, it all changes. Somewhere within, he seems them there still. Fighting for him. Dying for him.

And even though the dead are now just an echo, left in a world that has moved on, that world will never forget them. The footprints are in the sand, washing away but never leaving those tides.

Left to sit, haunted, in the hearts of the men who lived because others had died. True, Neville would always be haunted by their memories. But he lived, oh how he lived, because of their sacrifice.


	2. Prompt Two: Clock

_Author's Note__: WARNING. This chapter is rated 'T' for very mild sexual references. If you're not comfortable, please continue on to the next chapter. No lemon though, I promise._

**Prompt 2: Clock**

The constant waiting was setting Neville's teeth on edge. Hannah said she had a surprise for him. He was supposed to meet her exactly at midnight. The Astronomy Tower, she'd said, kissing him behind the ear gently, was the perfect place for what she wanted to show him.

Well if that wasn't suggestive, Neville didn't know what was.

He blushed furiously at the thought of what might be awaiting him there. Neville was a more modest bloke than most. Sure, he wouldn't totally mind if his girlfriend was there in only her knickers… But…B-but…He wasn't ready for it.

He loved her, no doubt. But that could mean he'd have to confess his own fears that he was…erm…Less than satisfactory in that department. Being still a virgin, and a sheltered one at that, Neville was a tad worried about what lay waiting for him up all of those stairs.

He gulped.

_The clock ticked on, closer, closer…Closer to midnight._

Neville absentmindedly scratched his ear.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

Fidgeting uncontrollably, Neville resorted to pacing around the room.

_Tick, tock. Tick, tock._

He let out a mildly animalistic noise before plopping back into place in front of the common room fire.

_DONG! DONG! DONG!_

Twelve times the clock let out the loud chime, and Neville practically leapt out of his chair. Why was it that a loud noise was all the worse when you were expecting it? He flew out of the common room before the portrait was all of the way open. Neville could hear the Fat Lady grumbling behind him as he sped down and up a separate flight of stairs two-by-two.

The Astronomy Tower was fast approaching, and he could feel his breath coming in shaking gulps, be it because he was out of shape and this was a lot of stairs, or because he wondered what lay ahead, he did not know. When he reached the top, his breath caught in his throat.

Hannah's back was turned to him, her blonde tresses billowing down her back, the moonlight highlighting her sinewy body.

Sweat broke out across his forehead and down his palms. It was the stairs, right? Yeah, the stairs.

He finally mustered up a bit of Gryffindor courage and spoke up softly to his girlfriend.

"H-hey, Hannah," he whispered, blushing fiercely.

"Hey, yourself," she said just as quietly, still not yet turning to face him. Her soft, pale hands were grasped gently around the balcony edge, and Neville wondered for a moment what it might feel like, to have those hands running up and down his back. He shook his head of the mildly dirty thoughts.

"Turn around," Neville said huskily, waiting, wondering what was in store. Painfully slowly, the Hufflepuff pivoted on her feet, facing him.

"Are you ready for your surprise?" she said with an eager smile.

"Erm..I think so…" he replied nervously. Hannah gently grasped his left hand with her right and pulled him closer to the balcony.

"Accio Orchideous Locomortis," she said slowly, waving her wand in a complicated fashion and ignoring Neville's confused expression. From down below, in the Forbidden Forest, a bright white orchid came fluttering upon the balcony ledge.

The flower began an intricate dance, the roots still attached to its stem, petals racing in a ballet of sorts, and a soft voice came echoing into Neville's mind. He knew from her face that Hannah could hear it as well.

"_D__uret amor volutpat. __S__ed in aeternum vivas in pace et laetitia sempiterna ignoret reliquis diebus vitae tuae._ _Jam non ferent umbrae tenebrae super amorem. Et hanc solitudinem usque tandem__."_

He didn't know what it was saying, only that it spoke in the earliest forms of Latin, the earliest forms of magic. All he did know that even if it seemed impossible, the Orchideous Locomortis was speaking to them. And then he remembered.

"Wait, that was your surprise?" Neville said quickly. Hannah raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah? Wasn't it good enough…?" She replied with curiosity. In response, Neville burst out laughing.

He had been nervous coming here because he was totally under the impression she wanted to shag him. She actually just wanted to show him a dancing orchid. It was hysterical.

"Nev, what's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." She glanced at him dubiously.

"Well, I just know how much you love plants. The Orchideous Locomortis is the rarest flower alive. It's the only one that can sing and dance. They only dance at midnight on a half moon though, so I thought I'd show you up here. They are supposed to be prophetic, you know. They give blessings to people. Usually good ones, but then again, I don't speak Latin so I guess I'll never know…I got one with roots and all. If anyone can learn to plant and care for them, you can. You could help grow the species back again," Hannah said sincerely.

"It's a beautiful present Hannah. The second most beautiful I could ever ask for," Neville managed.

"What's the first?" She replied.

"You," he said, leaning down to place a tender kiss on her waiting lips. Neville could scarcely believe that only minutes ago he had been frantically worrying, pacing the clock, and fearing what to do with this gorgeous woman in front of him. And now, here she was, perfect for all of her imperfections.

"You already have that," she whispered.

And boy was he glad of that.

_Author's Note:__ For those who are wondering, the Latin the flower said means: "May you live within your love forever, where nothing can affect you for the rest of your days. May no shadows cast their darkness upon your love. And may this joined solitude last forever." Please don't forget to review!_


	3. Prompt Three: Sliding

_Author's Note__: This chapter is pretty much pure fluff. Fair warning._

**Prompt 3: Sliding**

Herbology was supposed to be Neville Longbottom's favorite class because of the plants. It was, in reality, a bit more complicated than that. There was also the small bonus that he sat two seats down from the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Hannah Abbott was easily more alluring than anyone Neville had ever met. She was smart, funny, and had a way of smiling even brighter than anyone else despite her tragic past. He always felt an underlying need to save her as well, mainly because she was clumsier than he was (A rare feat, to be sure) and he could finally be someone's hero.

Granted, this was a few years before the Battle of Hogwarts, where so much changed everything, but way back when, he was just an innocent boy who always had a habit of screwing up. And she was an equally innocent girl who seemed awkwardly beautiful.

She had muggle braces on her teeth for a few years, and when they came off for the first time, Neville was awestruck. She had an even more dazzling smile than ever…

But he sometimes missed the way her front teeth never quite touched. His own weren't prefect, and neither was he.

Neville suddenly hit the realization that Hannah was no longer that awkward girl that day in Herbology, when he reached across the table to grab something and accidentally dropped the Falling Fichus right on her. To his credit, the plant is called a Falling Fichus for a reason. They have an odd tendency of falling out of your hands due to their slippery stalks, which eat throw their pots and make everything slippery. The plant was blessedly undamaged, but dirt went smearing everywhere.

She was the only girl who had ever seen him screw up and said nothing about it. Didn't laugh, didn't comment, didn't try to talk down her nose and say, "Gee, Neville, it's okay. You'll do better next time," as if he was constantly down on himself and needed cheering up.

She just smiled ever so slightly and muttered a quick "Evanesco," until the mess vanished and he could re-fill the pot with soil.

From that moment on, he developed an odd desire to get close to her. She had become even more fascinating than before. It was unfortunate that on most days, Seamus sat between them and prevented him from ever speaking with her.

But the next day, Seamus had blown something up during Charms class and was in the hospital wing having his eyebrows re-grown. And Neville was still sitting the same exact distance from Hannah as he was every day.

Damn.

Neville had no clue why the one time he had a chance to be close to her, there was still a Seamus-sized gap between them.

Instantly, Neville knew he had to fix that. He pretended to have the sudden desire to grab a spade and replant the Chinese Chomping Cabbage in front of him. Naturally, he had to slide a few inches to the right to reach the spade, and mysteriously he didn't slide back.

The most appalling result, however, was not that he was three inches closer to Hannah. He had ended up a full six inches closer. How had-?

And then Neville realized that the bag of soil that had been on his side of the table had changed positions and was on Hannah's other side. How had she gotten that?

He decided that he wanted some of that back, otherwise the whole "Look, I'm innocently transplanting the Cabbage," would seem pointless. He set down the spade and reached over and pulled the bag back over to him, sliding over three more inches in the process, and then casually trying to pick up the spade and get back to work. But…

What in the name of Merlin?

The spade was now in Hannah's hand. And, she had slid three inches closer than he had. He was aware that they were much closer than they started. Finally, he scooted closer to whisper in her ear.

"Hey, Hannah, can I have that spade back? I'm…Err, just trying to replant the Chinese Chomping Cabbage," Neville said. She looked in his eyes, and then replied,

"Sure, Nev. Let me grab it. I've set it back down over here," she said. Neville realized he liked it when she called him by his rarely-used nickname.

Magically, she had turned her back to him to grab the spade again from the other side of the table, and in the process had scooted even closer to him.

Somehow, the two had gotten so close that their legs were touching. Hannah smiled and handed him the spade.

He smiled back, and lost track of his own actions. He was vaguely aware that he was transplanting something, but he was still stuck on the way she looked as she smiled and slid closer to him. Lucky for Neville, herbology was second nature for him, otherwise he could have gotten distracted too easily.

And then, Neville realized that Seamus was standing behind him, coughing awkwardly, eyebrows beginning to re-grow.

"Err…Here, Seamus. You can have your spot back," Neville said grudgingly as he slipped back into his usual spot.

Seamus looked at him quizzically and sat down with an imploring look in his eyes.

Neville ignored him, and promptly began to think of ways to make something else around Seamus blow up so that he could go sliding closer to Hannah again tomorrow.

Adding a few leaves of the explosive Chomping Cabbage to Seamus's concoction in potions sounded like a good idea.

Neville made sure to sneak a few of those into his pocket on the way out.


	4. Prompt Four: Dark Room

_Author's Note__: Read this chapter if you feel like being depressed._

**Prompt 4: Dark Room**

Somewhere deep in the depths of nothingness and horror, there exists a place where every painfully mortal man, and his every bleak thought of despair comes to the surface, so dark that that thought can only hope for the blessings of death, the promise of hell's sweet redemption. Even the most undeserving and unexpected people have seen this place. Some make it out alive, and others remain trapped for years and decades and ages until time no longer continues.

Neville found that place the day he stood in his train compartment, his deputy, Luna, sitting at his side.

It wasn't a tangible place, he would soon learn.

As Neville sat on the Hogwarts Express, the happy location of many childhood memories, he had a sudden feeling that a darkness was creeping along the edges of his mind, a darkness that would not dare release him.

The Death Eater's came that day awash in black cloaks, and masks so distorted that they could blithely hide the faces of killers from the eyes of the innocent.

They came for Luna.

The dark shrouded figures grabbed hold of her hair with brute hands, and stealthy hatred, demanding her to control what her father was writing in his editorial. And she yelled. Merlin, she yelled. She yelled bloody murder as they cast spell upon spell into her dove-like body, trying to put on a show for those Hogwarts students who had managed to disobey them.

But to see them take it upon her, upon Luna, who lived in a world of dream-like fantasy, who represented the same serenity that the D.A. was fighting for…It was too much.

Flaring curses leapt into Neville's brain, but where was his wand, oh where, oh where was his wand? He was just a moment too late. He watched with glistening tears as they tore her from the train and Disapparated, leaving him with nothing but an aching emptiness of his failure as a Captain in Dumbledore's Army, his failure as a friend.

And then the darkness engulfed his mind like a wave, like a room well hidden that no one would ever want to seek. And hot, bitter tears of outrage were pouring down his face, and Hannah was wrapping her arms around him, and he felt her tears mingle with his on his shoulder, but he could not push away that dark room in his mind. Not until he felt Hannah sleeping at his slide, her eyes empty of tears, and he knew that he had to go on with his mission. He had to do something to keep her safe.

He always thought that he had lost her. Luna. But when she arrived safely with Dean at the very end of all ends, the day of the Battle, he finally learned to hide that Dark Room away. It was a sinister, morbid place of nightmares, but often it came up in times of trouble, to comfort him and to remind him that death and hell would surely be better than the place where he was.

But Neville knew one thing for sure. He would rather have one day in that Dark Room with a light at the end of the tunnel than a thousand in a place where there were only hues of grey. And he would always strive for the light.


End file.
